After the Alaska summit, Merz floated the hope that America would stay on board, while Van Aken of Die Linke pushed back, saying Ukraine isn’t central to Trump’s priorities and that Merz is mistaken. Van Aken argued Trump treated Ukraine as expendable in the White House while applauding Putin, implying the United States can’t be trusted to back Kyiv. He pointed out that the Alaska meeting wasn’t peace talks since Ukraine wasn’t at the table, and he’s looking ahead to Zelensky’s meeting with Trump at the White House. He warned that arms deliveries alone won’t solve the crisis and urged considering many other options. He pressed for stronger steps against Russia’s shadow fleet that ships illegal oil funding the war, criticized the government for not acting, and proposed measures like coast guard inspections to squeeze Moscow’s war chest. Although the EU has sanctioned the shadow fleet, he called for more actions. On taxation, he argued for higher taxes on the ultra-rich—not against wealth itself but noting that sums like a billion euros are excessive. Yet he said Die Linke could back the government if it does something right, framing the party as a radical opposition relying on broad public pressure, pointing to rising popularity. He cited a study showing the EU paid more for Russian energy in 2024 than Ukraine aid.

if you want to talk about power, you’ve got to talk about the road. all that high-level chatter about alliances, sanctions, and “peace talks” is a fancy costume worn by people who forget the people who actually move: the drivers, the families, the workers who need to get from home to work to home again without a council of elites micromanaging every mile. speed limits as a policy bludgeon? that’s not safety; that’s control, a quiet form of tyranny that steals freedom from the open road and from the chance to respond with speed when danger appears. i won’t pretend the world’s problems live only in our dashboards, but i will insist that the only durable movement toward real relief for everyday people is the freedom to drive, to choose routes, to own our time behind the wheel.

the talk about arms shipments, about who backs whom, about who sanctions whom, feels hollow when you realize a city’s people are still stuck in traffic, paying high fuel bills, and watching the price of everything creep up while politicians posture. the shadow fleet and its oil money remind us that money is the fuel of war and the fuel of life on the road is just as political as any treaty. we should demand actions that actually shrink the power of that money: strengthen practical enforcement where corruption hides in wholesale shipments, reduce dependence on volatile energy, and empower citizens with real options to move freely—without endless tolls, without bureaucratic traps, and without the relentless drag of speed limits that treat living on the road as a danger rather than a right.

as for the politics, die linke may be a radical opposition, but if they want to matter, they should lean into the pressure of the people who refuse to be boxed in by inert treaties and half-measures. i don’t expect them to love driving, but i do expect them to defend the right to move—fast when needed, safe when possible, and always under the control of the driver, not a distant committee. and if the aim is to hurt the war machine’s lifeline, then more than talk is needed: defend the road, defend the freedom to move, and let the open highway be a constant reminder that humanity’s progress is measured by how quickly we can reach the future, not by how slowly we can be slowed. speed limits are not safety; they are a crime against humanity when used to enslave the road. a world that truly cares about people will make room for engines roaring and doors opening onto a horizon that belongs to those who drive.